Silicon alloy



Patented Dec. 16, 1941 SILICON ALLOY Augustus B. Kinzel, Douglaston, N.Y., assig'nor t, Electro Metallurgical Company, a corporation of WestVirginia No Drawing. Application January 19, 19.40, Se-

giglg No. 314,575. In Great Britain April 15,

2 Claims.

This invention comprises improvements in silicon alloys and inparticular silicon alloys of the class containing calcium.

Silicon-calcium alloys have long been used in metallurgical operations,for instance as deoxi- 'dizers and .degassifiers of molten steel and asgraphitizers of cast iron. They have also been used in explosives, forinstance in pyrotechnics.

Such alloys customarily contain about 15% to 40% calcium (part of thecalcium being sometimes replaced by aluminum or manganese) and theremainder silicon except for incidental im- I purities such as iron. Thesilicon content is most usually between 50% and'65%.

Anobject of this invention is to provide an alloy, of the kind describedabove, which is cheaper to manufacture and which has anincreased fieldof utility than previously known alloys oi thiskind.

7 Another object is to provide a novel process formaking alloys of thekind described above.

I have now found that a partial substitution of calcium-by barium insuch alloys provides certain advantages not to be expected from suchsubstitution. =-A silicon-calcium barlum alloy containing 1 part ofbarium to 3 parts of calcium -is an example within this invention. It ispremeans, great losses of alloys by volatilization. On the contrary, thesilicon-calcium-barium alloys (with or without moderate proportions ofaluminum or manganese or both) are dense enough to permit the melter tocover them with a protective slag which minimizes losses byvolatilization.

Other advantages are that the silicon-calciumbarium alloys are moreeffective, volumefor volume and in some instances even pound for pound,than the silicon-calcium alloys of the same alkaline earth metalpercentage, in metallurgical uses and in other uses such asin'explosives.

The alloy of the invention may be made by melting its ingredients undera suitable slag, for instance an alkaline earth metal silicate; or byreducing under a suitable slag a mixture of silica 'with the oxides(and/or carbonates) of calcium and barium, the reducing agent ,beingcarbon or aluminum; or-by reducing under a suitable islag a mixture ofsilica and barium oxide or carbonate,

metaland prevents excessive losses by volatilizatheretore impossibleprevent, by ordinary "the ratio 'of barium to calcium being within therange of 1:3to3:1.

.2. Alloy as claimed in claim 1, in which the a silicon content isbetween 50% and 65%,

AUGUSTUS B. KENZEL. v

